Fathers
by L.O.A.D
Summary: Fathers are supposed to protect there children, not born them. At least, that's what Hakoda thinks.


**I actuallly love the Hakoda/Zuko father/son pairing. I feel like if they were together more in the show they could have bounded. Hakoda is obviously a man who loves his children very much, and Zuko is someone that desperately needs a father figure that won't burn him for back talking. And I know he has Iroh, but at this point in time Zuko, 1) Doesn't know where Iroh is, and 2) Thinks Iroh hates him. So I think Hakoda would make a nice surrogate father for poor Zuzu. Also, I can't imagine that Zuko isn't terrified of Ozai. _Who_ wouldn't be!**

Night had decended at the Western Air Temple and it was Hakoda's job to keep watch. While waiting for morning to come and hoping that they wouldn't be attacked, Hakoda heard a faint whimpering sound coming from the fountain area where everyone was sleeping. Cocking an eyebrow, Hakoda walked towards the source of the noise. It was Zuko. The former prince was curled up under a blanket whimpering and shinking, asleep. Hakoda frowned and sat down next to the young firebender.

_I wonder what he's dreaming about?_ Hakoda mused, trying to think of what could be frightening him so badly. He thought back to how bravely Zuko had fought at the prison; how he had risked his life on the assumption that Sokka would catch him.

"No," Zuko whimpered. "I-I'm sorry. Please, Father." Hakoda stiffened. The Firelord. Nightmares about him seemed all too common lately. Only a few nights ago he was forced to calm Aang down after the boy Avatar had had a nightmare about their enemy. But something about this time unnerved Hakoda even more. Zuko was Ozai's son. Just how cruel a father was the Firelord, if his own son was terrified of him? When it became clear that Zuko's nightmare wasn't ending, Hakoda shook the boy awake.

"Zuko?" He whispered sharply. Zuko opened his eyes and jumped back, startled. He looked at Hakoda, confused. "You were having a nightmare." Hakoda explained. He looked down before adding, "about your father." Zuko appeared flustered for a moment before glaring at Hakoda?

"So?" He snapped. "I can take care of myself!"

"I just wanted to see if you were alright," Hakoda said.

"I'm fine!" He yelled. Not surprisingly, everyone else stirred from their sleep and looked over at Hakoda and Zuko.

"Dad?" Sokka asked sleepily. "Is everything alright?" Zuko looked at the group before jumping to his feet and storming off.

"What's wrong with him?" Aang asked. Hakoda shrugged.

"I wish I knew," Hakoda said. After a few minutes everyone had fallen back asleep and Hakoda had resumed the watch. Throughout the night, he could sense that Zuko was watching him from across the camp.

* * *

The next night Hakoda decided to take watch again. The others had looked at him oddly but none of them questioned it. And he was glad they hadn't; because Hakoda wasn't sure how to tell the group that the reason he wanted to keep watch was so that he could find out what was wrong with Zuko. The day after he had confronted Zuko about his dream, he had noticed either a change in the princes behavior or, just as likely, behavior that he hadn't paid attention to before. Zuko seemed to try and avoid him. Odder still, he seemed to try and keep Katara and Sokka from him. At dinner, when Katara had made a particularly nasty and biting comment towards the prince, Hakoda had done what any father would have and scolded her. Of the entire group, only Zuko seemed fazed by this. He had watched Hakoda carefully, as if expecting something else. Something worse. Curious, Hakoda decided to watch the prince more closely.

And so it was that Hakoda, Chief of the Southern Water Tribe, was spending yet another night awake, watching Zuko, the former crown prince of the Fire Nation, have another nightmare.

This night, instead of sleeping with the group, Zuko had decided to sleep as close to the fire as he could without either sleeping in it or curled around it. It was the fire that told Hakoda when Zuko's nightmare began. It started off faint, just a tiny flicker. But as Zuko's nightmare continued, the fire danced to his torment. He was sleep-bending.

Hakoda was familiar enough with sleep-bending. After Kya had died, Katara had begun to do it. Of course, with her being a waterbender, the worse thing that happened was that everyone woke up wet. But now, watching the flame flicker as Zuko's nightmare progressed, Hakoda began to feel worried. He didn't think the prince would harm them on purpose, but fire could be so hard to control. One stray spark was all it took. The nightmare reached it's peak and Zuko curled tighter into a ball. The teen who had otherwise been quiet this night whimpered loundly and the fire followed his lead. Only, instead of flaring up, the flame died down, as if cowering itself.

Suddenly, the fire died completely as Zuko cried out in his sleep and bolted upright. Immediatly, his left hand went to the side of his face, to his scar. He touched the scarred tissue and pulled his hand away, bringing his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. Hakoda wanted to go comfort the boy, but didn't, unsure if that would be wise considering what had occured the previous night. So he sat across the camp watching as Zuko tried to calm himself. Eventually the prince got up and walked over to Hakoda.

"Can I ask you something?" He asked, his voice(and body, for that matter) shaking. Hakoda smiled.

"You just did," he said, trying to cut the tension. Zuko swallowed and shook even more. Apparently, the joke only put him even more on edge. Hakoda sighed and nodded. "Yes," he answered, "you can." Zuko nodded and began.

"What would you do," he asked, "if Sokka had gone to a meeting he wasn't supposed to be in, and spoke out against a plan that was obviously cruel?" Hakoda looked at him.

"Is this one of my meetings?" He asked. Zuko nodded. Hakoda sighed. "Depends on what is was he spoke out again..."

"A general of yours was planning on sacrificing new recruits," Zuko said quickly. Hakoda nodded.

"I would probably agree with my son," he said. "And take away his jerky as punishment for breaking the rules," he added with a smile. Zuko didn't seem amused. Then, something in his mind clicked and he looked up at Zuko. The questions were just _too_ specific. "Why?" He asked. "What would your father do?" Zuko's left hand twitched slightly. Hakoda looked at Zuko's face and noticed for the first time that the boy was crying. He also noticed the scar. Hakoda felt his stomach clench and his throat tighten. A realization came to him and he thought he'd be sick. He stood up, towering over Zuko.

"What did he do?" He demanded. Zuko stared at the ground and sobbed softly. Zuko lifted his hand to wipe the tears from his eyes, his hand lingering on his scared eye longer than it should have. Hakoda frowned and relaxed his tensed muscles slightly. "How old were you?" Hakoda asked, more gently.

"Thirteen," Zuko whispered. "I shouldn't have been in the war meeting. I-I just wanted to be a good prince. I wanted to learn. The general's plan was cruel; it was wrong. B-but my father was so angry. He said there needed to be an Agni Kai. I thought I'd duel the general." Hakoda's heart sank when he realized where the story was going. "B-b-but I turned around and it was my father. I didn't want to fight my father; I couldn't. I-I..." Zuko paused, tears streaming down his face. "I begged. I begged my father for mercy. T-That only made him angrier. I bowed and I begged and he was angry and... He's killed before, in Agni Kai's. I-I thought he'd kill me." Hakoda nodded, trying and failing to fight the image of Zuko, not much older than Aang or Toph at the time, on his knees before his father, begging for his life. Zuko sniffed and continued his story. "He said I needed to learn respect." His hand moved up to the scar. "Afterwards, he banished me for refusing to fight. For being weak. Dishonorable." Without thinking, Hakoda pulled Zuko into a hug, rubbing the trembling teens back until he had calmed down.

_What kind of a man woul do that?_ He asked himself. He tried to imagine himself in that situation, with his own kids. Imagine inuring them for something so trivial as speaking out of turn. He tried to imagine his own children begging. The very thought made him sick. No wonder Zuko was afraid of his father. How couldn't he be? He realized now why Zuko had been uneasy around him, why he feared him scolding Katara. If that was how he expected a father to act...

"That wasn't the first time he punished you, was it?" Hakoda asked Zuko.

"No," the teen replied. "Just the worst." Hakoda stared at him.

"How could that happen?" He asked. "You're mother..?"

"Disappeared when I was ten," Zuko replied. "She was trying to save me."

"What do you mean?" Hakoda asked, dreading the answer. Zuko swallowed.

"When my cousin died in the battle for Ba Sing Se," he began, "my uncle gave up. My father the thought that he should be made next in line for the throne, instead of Uncle. Firelord Azulon, my grandfather, didn't like that idea. H-he said that my father should suffer the same way Iroh had. he said my father had to kill me." Hakoda stared at Zuko, half shocked at how horrible a family he had and have stunned as to how he had managed to survive long enough to live to be sixteen. "And he was going to do it. My mother found out and... and..."

"And?" Hakoda asked.

"I don't know," Zuko confessed. "All I know is that the next morning, Grandfather was dead, my dad was heir to the throne, soon to be Firelord, and my mother was gone." Hakoda nodded, trying to refrain from assuming the worst. He looked back at Zuko and wiped the tears from his eyes.

"Your nightmares are about your father, aren't they?" Zuko nodded. "I thought so. Did this help?" He asked. Again, Zuko nodded.

"A little," he said.

"Good," Hakoda replied. "Get some sleep. If you need anything, I'm here."

_Like a father should be._


End file.
